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Royal Up Program


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I think I figured out the problem but I could be wrong.  When I went to the upgrade website on my phone, I was able to select my bid but I did not realized that I had to scroll down to the bottom of the page where there was a "Continue" button.  From there I was sent to a page where I had to enter my CC info.  All this time I thought I had entered a bid but I had not.  But when I went to the website on a regular laptop, I could see that there were 3 steps involved: bid, CC info, and review.  

So all this time I had THOUGHT I had entered a bid but I really had not.  I hope others have not made the same mistake I had made. 

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I have a question, Can someone clarify? 

Currently we have 2 ocean view  connecting balcony rooms. We have 1 parent and 1 child in each room. We want to try the Royal Up program. I understand that if our bid is accepted, will be charged that amount for the first 2 ppl. But is it possible to place a bid on a larger room/suite that will hold all 4 of us?

Basically, with our upgrade can we trade the 2 connecting rooms for a large suite?

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8 minutes ago, natalie.gonzalez said:

I have a question, Can someone clarify? 

Basically, with our upgrade can we trade the 2 connecting rooms for a large suite?

Unfortunately, you can't do this. You can bid on a large suite. In fact you can put in two bids for a large suite, one from each of your connecting rooms. And if you win, you will only be charged for the two people in the room that won the upgrade. You can then move the people from the second room into the large suite if you want, as Royal does not care who sleeps where. But those two "extra" people will not be entitled to any of the suite privileges; they will only be able to take advantage of sleeping in the bigger room along with the other members of the family.

 

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21 minutes ago, natalie.gonzalez said:

one more question please! 

If we have already purchased drink packages, or specialty dinners, etc and we are awarded an upgraded room, will RC refund those purchases, since some upgraded rooms come with those perks already?

Yes, they will refund any planner purchases if you go into a room that includes those perks. But only Sky class and Star class receive perks like internet, dining, and beverages, which are only on oasis and quantum class ships.

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hi guys!

 

I am going un June 25 on the symphony of the seas, I received an email regarding the royal up program and submit the bid, has been already like a month I haven't received no answer yet. can you share with me the time to answer that you had? how likely is to win a bid? 

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3 hours ago, william MP said:

hi guys!

 

I am going un June 25 on the symphony of the seas, I received an email regarding the royal up program and submit the bid, has been already like a month I haven't received no answer yet. can you share with me the time to answer that you had? how likely is to win a bid? 

Hi William, and welcome to the boards.

Basically, you should expect NOT to win your bid as there is a far greater chance of that happening than there is of winning it. If you do win, then look on it as unexpected bonus!

Earlier in the start-up, lots of people were reporting winning bids and that was largely down to the fact that ships were sailing well below capacity, meaning there were always empty rooms.

However, everything has now been ramped back up and most ships are sailing at or close to capacity meaning there is not much real estate out there for bidders.

You could be notified of a winning literally any time up to sailing or even a few hours after (e.g. if someone cancels or no-shows, opening up a previously unavailable room). Similarly, rejection e-mails will usually come in after your ship sails since there is a buffer period just in case of those very last-minute cancellations/no-shows. I received my rejection e-mail at 2 am, so 9 hours after the ship's scheduled sailing time.

I hope this helps and you have a great cruise.

 

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3 hours ago, FionaMG said:

Hi William, and welcome to the boards.

Basically, you should expect NOT to win your bid as there is a far greater chance of that happening than there is of winning it. If you do win, then look on it as unexpected bonus!

Earlier in the start-up, lots of people were reporting winning bids and that was largely down to the fact that ships were sailing well below capacity, meaning there were always empty rooms.

However, everything has now been ramped back up and most ships are sailing at or close to capacity meaning there is not much real estate out there for bidders.

You could be notified of a winning literally any time up to sailing or even a few hours after (e.g. if someone cancels or no-shows, opening up a previously unavailable room). Similarly, rejection e-mails will usually come in after your ship sails since there is a buffer period just in case of those very last-minute cancellations/no-shows. I received my rejection e-mail at 2 am, so 9 hours after the ship's scheduled sailing time.

I hope this helps and you have a great cruise.

 

thank you!!! 😞  

 

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Voyager of the Seas, July 3rd sailing from Stockholm. Booked via TA. Originally in "Ultra Spacious Ocean View", Category 1K. We didn't receive any email from RoyalUp, but went to bid anyway about two months before the sail date.

Bid 555 EUR per guest for Grand Suite - 2 Bedroom. Total 1110 EUR (roughly 1165 USD)

"Your stateroom has been upgraded." -email received on 10th of June.

Reasons for bidding that amount:
1. It was a bit over the minimum to get into "Fair bid" territory, and I threw it just a bit over the threshold due to someone else probably bidding exactly at the threshold.
2. We really wanted this particular suite and none of the others, and there was a limited supply of 2 bedroom grand suites.
3. We could easily afford this amount as got some nice price reductions and deals on the original cruise fare (--> we stayed within our original travel budget even with this upgrade).

The sailing is probably not even close to being fully booked. Maybe closer to 50% than 90%. At least there are hundreds of staterooms still available and we are only a few weeks away.

I hope this information helps someone else wondering what to bid.

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1 hour ago, ally06 said:

Currently booked on 8n Odyssey and was told price difference to upgrade to guaranteed balcony is $100pp....is this competitive to royal up bid? I'm assuming guaranteed balcony is likely obstructed view?

This upgrade will guarantee you a balcony, it might be a nice one or a total crapshoot, but you will get a balcony. Probably an obstructed view in an area you may or may not like. All and all not super comparable to Royal up.

Royal up allows you to bid with nothing to guarantee you will win as it is done by a third party. It is based on a myriad of things. Sometimes you won't be able to bid because they don't have use for your cabin. The odds of winning are slim, and you are at the location god's mercy. 

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None of mine are "cancelled" per say. They are basically waiting till a few hours after sailing... I really hope we get it, but I highly doubt it at this point.

Quote

We have reviewed the RoyalUp bids for your upcoming sailing onboard Oasis of the Seas®, and while we have not selected your offer yet, the team onboard the ship may choose it for upgrade based on availability at departure time.

You will be able to modify or cancel your bid(s) up to 2 hours before departure on embarkation date. If you do not receive any communication by departure time, your cabin has not been upgraded.

If you do not wish to be upgraded onboard, you may cancel your offer by clicking the below link and following through with the cancellation steps.

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Got a Royal Up email - had a look.  prices are ridiculous - even almost minimum bids are about what I could have just paid at the time.    That's fine.  

Question I have is do the numbers change or is this it?  I have checked a few times and they appear the same - but do they change down (ideally) ever?   So I don't need to keep checking 🙂

 

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13 minutes ago, Meridian said:

Got a Royal Up email - had a look.  prices are ridiculous - even almost minimum bids are about what I could have just paid at the time.    That's fine.  

Question I have is do the numbers change or is this it?  I have checked a few times and they appear the same - but do they change down (ideally) ever?   So I don't need to keep checking 🙂

 

I heard recently they do change every now and then, but I personally haven't seen it.

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8 hours ago, Meridian said:

Got a Royal Up email - had a look.  prices are ridiculous - even almost minimum bids are about what I could have just paid at the time.    That's fine.  

Question I have is do the numbers change or is this it?  I have checked a few times and they appear the same - but do they change down (ideally) ever?   So I don't need to keep checking 🙂

 

During earlier in the restart, they would change. Often lower to entice more people to bid. With Royal being "back" there is little incentive to change. If anything, minimum bids might increase. 

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I bid just a bit over minimum for a balcony room for our January Odyssey sailing and my bid was accepted exactly two weeks before the sail date. I figured our low bid was accepted pretty easily because the sailing was only at 60% capacity.

Just for the heck of it, I made a one notch above minimum bid for a balcony on our upcoming Quantum sailing and surprisingly, our bid was just accepted this morning! (18 days ahead of the sailing) I figured with ships sailing at or near capacity that there was no way it would be accepted.

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37 minutes ago, SmoothJ24 said:

I am not counting on a upgrade this time around. I figure I was passed up the first time (now waiting for 2 hours after boarding), so I don't think I am high enough or there was nothing available.

The only "high enough" factor is the amount of the bid.  The 3rd party that runs RoyalUp doesn't know anyone's status.  

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20 minutes ago, SmoothJ24 said:

True, so its just based on availability and the amount you bid. I also believe its first come first serve too.

It can also depend on the number of guests if lifeboat capacity is near a threshold for a specific muster zone.  In some cases one bidder may be more attractive if it unlocks an additional cabin that can be sold.  Filling all muster zones to capacity can be like a tetris game.  

There is also the line of succession that can occur.  A balcony cabin bids on a JS.  That frees up the balcony so a bidder in an OV can be put in the balcony resulting in more revenue than just the amount of a single bid.  

But mostly it's about the size of the bid.  Most of the time a larger bid will win, assuming there is a upgrade cabin available.  First come doesn't have any bearing.  If you bid 30 days out and I bid one week out but my bid is larger they won't care that you bid before me.  It's all about maximizing revenue.  No bonus points for bidding early, in fact an early bid may be at a disadvantage because later bidders won't be offered the same low bid an earlier bidder may have had when they bid early.  The minimum bid goes up as more people express interest. 

More money will almost always trump all other factors unless muster zone capacity gets in the way of a better bid winning.  

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